


Pirate Festival

by sedregina



Category: One Piece
Genre: (Since Oda has already done the enemies to friends one), (The friends to lovers part), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Makeover, One Piece Universe, One Piece: Stampede, Undercover Missions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-07 13:29:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18411614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sedregina/pseuds/sedregina
Summary: Inspired by the first trailer for "One Piece: Stampede".





	1. Zoro

**Author's Note:**

> This ship is one of my oldest in One Piece and one of those I'm most cheering for. After seeing the first trailer for "One Piece: Stampede" that revealed Tashigi will be in it, I started wondering what will happen with her and Zoro in that movie. I really hope they have at least one scene together. This fic is the result of my daydreaming. The plot of the film will surely go in another direction, but it was fun to imagine possible scenarios.

He felt her presence, like he can feel his swords. _Most of them, at least._ It wasn’t mere Observation Haki, he knew there was something that had been pushing him towards her from the first time they met.

How apt that the place where their eyes – and their swords – first clashed was called the town of the beginning and the end. For him, she’d been a new beginning. And he felt like she was going to be the end of him, too.

_ But what the hell was she doing on this island? She, a Marine, at a Pirate Festival? _

Zoro wondered if he should turn back and return to where he'd left Chopper and Brook playing ring toss. Bumping into her would cause trouble, not really because a fight could ensue, but because he knew it’d take him weeks to rid his mind of images of her afterwards, like each time before.

He realized, however, that someone had moved the crowd and the festival booths so that he couldn’t find the way back anymore. _Ha? Who could do something like that?_ Now he really had no choice but keep walking in the direction of the bridge where he’d _felt_ she was.

She probably had sensed him too, because when the crowd dispersed and he found himself in front of her on the bridge, she was already looking at him. Zoro swallowed and felt a weird feeling running through his spine. _Why are those eyes always burning with some kind of righteous flame?_ It wasn’t just her eyes, though. To Zoro, who could read a person’s aura like he read swords’, she always radiated pure light. And he found himself attracted to and pushed away by it, like a moth with a flame.

She didn’t look surprised to see him. “Straw Hat Pirates.” Her voice was clear as a bell. “I knew I’d found you here. Of course you would accept Buena Festa’s invite.”

Zoro smirked. “You know, Nami can’t say no to treasure, especially when it’s said to have belonged to Gold Roger. But what are _you_ doing here, dressed like that?”

She was wearing a regular pair of jeans and a sweater, but they were completed by the most improbable accessories he thought he’d ever see on her: a gun on her belt, a bandolier across her chest, and a giant feathered hat of the flamboyant kind you’d only find in Mihawk’s collection. And of course her sword was on her hip. He realized this was also the first time he was seeing her with her long hair completely loose.

“Undercover mission. We’re looking for a certain pirate, and weirdly enough this time it has nothing to do with your crew. So I’ll be thankful if you didn’t hinder my investigation and in turn I’ll let you go. It would be inconvenient for us to fight surrounded by thousands of pirates.”

She was speaking in that professional tone he knew so well, the one she’d use to arrest someone or report to a superior, but it absolutely didn’t suit the pirate girl she was pretending to be.

“You know, I don’t think you’ll go far in that disguise if you don’t start behaving like a pirate too,” Zoro said with a smirk, pointing at her.

“Eh? What’s that supposed to mean?” Her brow furrowed.

“I’m afraid he’s right, Tashigi-san,” a familiar voice interrupted them from behind.

“Nami-san!”

_Shit._ The last thing Zoro needed was the navigator poking her nose around. He tried to put on his most deadpan expression as Nami stepped between them.

“Yo, what’s up? I heard of the undercover mission.” She grinned, looking at Tashigi. “I could _really_ offer you some help, you know. I’m a _real_ pirate girl, after all.”

“I-I’m not sure, as I said I'm on a mission–” stuttered Tashigi.

“Come ooon, we have plenty of time to have some fun before the Treasure Race starts. I need to repay you for taking care of the kids!”

And without giving the Marine girl the time to respond, Nami was dragging her by one hand in the direction of the tavern on the other side of the river. With the other hand she was dragging Zoro, who could do nothing but follow along.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Now, Tashigi-san,” started Nami as soon as they were all seated at a table in the crowded tavern, “what would a pirate girl order here?”

Zoro thought Tashigi looked really out of place there, in a pirate watering hole. Not because she wasn’t used to having disreputable individuals around her – she commanded G-5 after all – but because he couldn’t imagine how someone as _righteous_ as her could even pretend to be a criminal.

“Beer?” she answered tentatively.

“Huh-uh,” Nami shook her head. “Beer is too light for a festival like this. _Rum_ is the answer. Watch me.”

And she proceeded to beat the palm of her hand on the table to catch a waitress’ attention, to whom she promptly requested three pints of rum.

“Oi, wait a minute. Who’s paying?” Zoro intervened. He wasn’t going to say no to some booze, but with Nami involved, he wanted to make sure his wallet could still afford that sushi he’d seen on a food stall a few moments ago.

“Don’t worry. It’s all on me,” Nami answered with a smirk. “We’re gonna get the Pirate King’s treasure, aren’t we? What’s a couple of drinks?”

“Now back to you, Tashigi,” she continued. “I think the hat is a bit too much. Would you let me make some adjustments?”

Tashigi looked a bit confused, but it seemed she trusted his orange-haired crewmate. “O-okay.”

With a quick gesture, Nami took the hat off Tashigi’s head and ran her fingers through her black hair to give it more volume. Zoro was looking at them out of the corner of his eye.

“We can use this lovely scarf instead.” And she proceeded to tie her colorful scarf around her head not unlike Zoro would tie his bandana, albeit in a much more fashionable way.

“See? Now your bosom is also more exposed. That’s a trick every pirate girl learns to use, sooner or later. Men are _so_ predictable, honestly. Some women too, though we’re more used to seeing boobs, you know.”

“Huh?!” Tashigi blushed, suddenly realizing the scarf no longer covered her cleavage – while Zoro felt the impulse to study the shape of the window behind them – but they were suddenly interrupted by a smiling waitress who put three pints of rum on their table.

After she left, Nami continued her work. “Now, the final touch.” She took a lipstick and a small mirror from her bag and handed them to Tashigi. “This ruby would really suit your skin and hair color. You have such a beautiful complexion, Tashigi-san.”

Zoro, always out of the corner of his eye and now half-hidden behind his pint, watched the Marine girl carefully apply the red to her lips. He felt something surge inside him that he quickly suppressed.

“Aaah, so pretty! Isn’t she pretty, Zoro?” Nami said cheerfully.

“Hmm.” Zoro wondered whether his fake deadpan expression was still holding.

_How did I end up in this situation? These two are literally the most dangerous women for me. I was too careless. I’m getting out of here._

But Nami made his plan fail immediately. “Well, I guess my mission has been accomplished. Gotta go. Usopp’s waiting for me,” she said, suddenly getting up after emptying her pint in one gulp and slamming it on the table.

“Eh? Wait, Nami-san. Weren’t you going to teach me how to behave like a pirate?” Tashigi asked.

“I did my part. Now it’s Zoro’s turn. Take care.” And after winking at him and tossing him a coin, she waltzed out of the tavern.

_I’m gonna kill her._

Zoro was left alone with Tashigi and an uncomfortable silence despite the rowdiness of the tavern.

He had to admit the makeover Nami had done on her was impressive. He’d always conceded she was beautiful, a kind of effortless beauty she herself probably didn’t realize she had. A beauty that he thought resided in her perfect posture, her way of holding her sword and the clearness of her gaze. Nami had now enhanced her physical beauty making all her best attributes stand out.

“So, how do I behave like a pirate?” She started.

_Does she really still want to do this?_

“Just let go.”

“Let go?”

He shrugged. “Relax. Stay loose. No formal language, no judgmental looks. Stuff like that.”

“Would this help?” She pointed at the pint still full in front of her.

“Maybe.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_That was a bad idea._

Zoro was trying to make his way through the crowd of pirates, following a now tipsy Tashigi who had just declared she only missed a pirate flag to become a _real pirate_ and join the Treasure Race.

_It was only a pint, could she be already in her cups? How can I get out of here and leave her alone now?_

She finally stopped in front of a shooting booth and turned towards him, smiling and pointing at the list of prizes. “Look, there’s a pirate flag! Shall we play?”

Seeing her cheerful and bright expression, he felt his lips tugging into a smile.

“Why not?”

_Is this the real her, free of the constraints that Marine coat puts on her?_

The mustached booth owner was calling people to play. “Welcome, welcome! 100 Berries for three shots! Hit a prize and you get it! Are you going to play, sir?”

“I only have 50 Berries,” Zoro told him.

His mustache curved down in disappointment. “Ehhh, okay. Two shots for you, then. Only because of the lady.”

Zoro picked up the rifle and looked into the scope. “One shot will be enough.”

_This is going to be easy._ The flag, colorful and with what looked like the Pirate Festival logo printed on it, was far away and hidden behind other prizes, but shooting couldn’t be that different from directing a flying slash to a target. _I don’t even need Observation Haki._

He felt a delicate but firm hand grab his arm. He almost startled at the touch. “Wait. Let’s do one shot for you and one for me, then.”

Tashigi then proceeded to pick up another rifle and stand to his left, taking aim too.

“Ha? You think I’m going to miss?”

“Who knows. And if you hit, I’m gonna get another prize for me.”

_What the hell? Was that a wicked grin he saw, hidden behind the rifle?_

Zoro aimed at the damn flag, pulled the trigger, and the cork bullet hit… a rubber duck next to the flag, that fell on the floor with a “quack!”

“WHAT THE HELL?!” he shouted, this time out loud, incredulous. “This game is rigged!”

Tashigi chuckled. “My turn now.”

Zoro watched her take aim again, her figure lean, her movements rigorous and precise. She bit her lower lip, now of a bright red color thanks to Nami’s doing, and held her breath. After one heartbeat, the cork hit the flag in its center.

“Wonderful, wonderful, miss!” The booth owner ran to the prizes to collect them.

“Your rifle shoots straight, then?” Zoro asked her.

“Nope, it’s rigged just like yours. I just managed to correct the aim.”

Zoro lifted his eyebrows in disbelief.

“There you go, miss.” The mustached man put the bright-colored pirate flag in her hands. He then handed the rubber duck to a still astounded Zoro.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing?”

“This is not a mere rubber toy, sir. It’s a ticket for the Tunnel of Love ride you’ll find three booths down. What a lucky day for you and the young lady, huh?”  The man winked at him with a cheesy smile, while Zoro felt a sudden heat on his cheeks and the urge to disappear into the ground under his feet.

Once he and Tashigi had said goodbye to the annoying man and taken a few steps from the booth, he turned to her. Looking directly at this woman made something shift in his stomach as always, and the words almost burned in his throat. “Hey, I think it’s time for me to go now. Good luck with your mission, okay?”

If she had managed to hit the target, the rum's effect was probably wearing off already. He wondered if she had been really tipsy after all. But it was safe to leave her to her mission now. Besides, he'd taken up too much of her time already.

Nevertheless, Zoro still felt a little blow to his chest when he heard her say  “Oh. Okay. I suppose it’s goodbye, then.” _Was I really expecting her to ask me to stay a little longer?_

She seemed taken aback a little but smiled at him. “Th-thank you for helping me be more like a pirate. I admit I feel a little more at ease now. Give my thanks to Nami-san, too.”

“Uhm– sure. See ya.”

And he left her there, letting the festival crowd fill the space between them.

 

 


	2. Tashigi

Not in her wildest dreams Tashigi would have imagined herself _having fun_ at a Pirate Festival. “Pirates” and “fun” just didn’t sound right together.

But she had to admit the giddiness she was feeling might have been caused by the alcohol at the beginning, but now it was just the electric atmosphere of the place she had decided to fully embrace.

_Just let go_ , he had told her in the tavern, and that’s what she’d been trying to do ever since. _I’m a pirate today._

She had discovered letting go wasn’t as hard as she’s imagined, especially with _him_. She’d been bold enough to challenge him at the shooting booth, and his dumbfounded expression when she'd hit the target after he’d failed was still impressed in her mind. It made the corners of her lips curve into a smile.

_How can someone with such a monstrous strength be such a goof at the same time?_ She hadn’t forgotten how he’d kept getting lost while he was carrying her injured self on Punk Hazard – just like she hadn’t forgotten how it had felt to be lifted by his strong arms and be so close to– _Okay, better not let your mind wander anymore._

_Pirate. He’s a pirate._

She focused on her task. There were still a few hours until the start of the Treasure Race, and she had already acquired a flag that would give her access to the game. Her real mission wasn’t to begin until then. Tashigi wondered how things were going on Smoker-san’s side. _Has he found Douglas Bullet yet?_ _Probably not, or he would have contacted me._

She walked around the booths and stalls, inspecting the goods, realizing she could have arrested half of those people for counterfeiting or selling illegal stuff. _What can you expect from pirates?_

But that’s not why she was there.

“Oi, young lady, wanna try goldfish scooping? Only 50 Berries for three tries!” An old lady called her from a nearby booth.

“Eh? Oh, okay.”

Tashigi was handed a paper scooper and she joined the crowd that was standing around a small pool, trying to scoop goldfish into bowls – or what seemed to be goldfish. They looked more like a mix between goldfish and fighting fish, and kept jumping out of the water and attacking whoever tried to catch them.

A muscular guy next to her was swinging his scooper with particular violence but to no effect, while his friends laughed at his attempts to hit the fish.

“What happens if I catch one?” Tashigi asked out loud.

“You can choose to keep the fish or a get a mask from the wall,” a boy answered, pointing his finger to a wall of hand-made festival masks. There were every sort of animals and mythical creatures, from kung-fu dugongs to south birds to dragons.

_A mask could be useful for my disguise._ She picked up one of the bowls lying on the edge of the pool and closed her eyes, trying to sense the fish’s movements. As soon as she felt one was jumping with the perfect trajectory, Tashigi hit it with the scooper with a quick and precise movement, making it land perfectly in her bowl. The young boy and the people around her cheered.

“Hey, how did you do it, girlie? Did you use some sort of trick?” The burly pirate didn’t look happy she had caught a fish before him.

Tashigi smiled. “Just luck, I suppose.”

He scoffed, then a frown of suspicion appeared on his brow. “Huh? Have I seen you somewhere before?”

One of his friends intervened. “Yeah, captain, doesn’t she look like that Marine girl who kicked your ass in Marineford?” They were all staring at her now.

_Oh, crap._

“Yeah, now that you mention it, she does remind me of _her_. The Marine woman who cut me after that smoke monster choked us all.”

_This is the last thing I needed. How can I remember all the pirates I’ve fought?_

She tried to sound clueless. “I’m afraid you have mistaken me for someone else, sir. I’m- I’m a pirate.”

“Ha? Ya don’t really sound like one, missy. And ya know, I never forget the face of someone I swore revenge against.”

_This is bad._ Tashigi knew she could have put that guy and all his friends to sleep in an instant just like she did in Marineford – if only she’d remembered she did – but she didn’t want to cause a commotion. They were already attracting too many stares from the people around the goldfish pool.

_So much for laying low and keeping my cover._

It was in that moment that she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.

“There you are sweetheart, sorry I’m late. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

_This voice… Could it be…?_

She turned her head and found herself looking at Roronoa’s smug face.

It took the goons a couple of seconds to recognize him, but then, “Ro-Ro-Roronoa the Pirate Hunter?!” they exclaimed, now all visibly shaken.

He didn’t answer, but kept his one unscarred eye on them with a mildly bored expression.

The tension was broken only when the burly one – the captain, apparently – managed to put a strained smile on his face and said, “Uh, sorry miss, we must have mistaken you for someone else.” And they quickly retreated, disappearing in the crowd and leaving her with Roronoa, his hand still on her shoulder, distractingly hot.

“I think I owe you one,” she told him at last, breathing a sigh of relief. “I was about to blow my cover.” Only then did his words from a few seconds before registered. “Sweetheart!?” she hissed.

He lifted his hand abruptly. “I just thought of the first thing that crossed my mind, okay?”

 

 

* * *

 

  

A few moments later Tashigi was leaving the goldfish booth with a fox mask covering her face, Roronoa walking lazily at her side. Hands in his pockets, his shirt completely open in the front, like in the tavern she had to force her eyes not to wander in the direction of his muscles.

“So… why did you come back?” she began tentatively, while they ambled through the crowd. Her voice was a little muffled by the mask.

He shrugged. “I just happened to get here by chance. I was looking for a sushi stall but it looks like they moved it.”

Given his bad sense of direction, Tashigi wasn’t sure that’s what really happened, but she didn’t ask further. Having him with her again, she felt a strange sense of comfort she couldn’t quite place. A smile tugged on her lips under the mask.

Then he looked at her. “How did you not recognize him? That guy, I mean. He was right next to you.” She felt real curiosity in his voice, not a hint of that patronizing tone he'd sometimes used with her.

“From what I understood, we fought at Marineford. He must have been one of Whitebeard’s hundreds of subordinates. They were too many to remember each face.”

“It must have been rough. The battle, I mean. It must have been a mess.”

“Yeah– Yeah, it was.” It had taken her two years to accept that the dust, the screams and the blood of that day would never leave her completely. Sometimes she still dreamt about it at night. “At the end, after Whitebeard died, you couldn’t even tell who was a pirate and who was a Marine anymore. It was either kill or be killed.”

For a few moments, neither of them spoke. She thought Roronoa must have heard about the mayhem at Marineford, since his captain had been gravely injured there, while trying to save the Pirate King’s son. She wondered where _he_ had been, or his other crewmates for that matter, but decided it wasn’t the right moment to ask. She didn’t want to talk about Marineford.

It was him who eventually broke the silence, as if to take her thoughts away from those memories. “So, you’re also rifle trained? Your feat from before.” 

She nodded. “We all receive basic rifle training. It’s standard Marine drills. But I always preferred swords.”

“Yeah, I could tell,” he replied with a grin.

Tashigi blinked at him through the slits in the mask. “What’s that supposed to mean? You call me sword maniac but _I’_ m not the one who carries three of them everywhere.”

She had meant to put a hint of spite in her words, but she realized half-sentence that all that came out was just a genuine tease. And in turn, he responded with a laugh, stopping on his feet.

“You know, we’re more alike than the labels people give us make it seem.” There was a serious tone in his voice. Then, facing her, he raised his right arm and poked her mask-covered forehead with a finger. “I know you can feel swords like I do. Hell, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t even know the name of my favorite one.”

A surge of warmth and something indiscernible went through Tashigi’s body. She swallowed and thanked the heavens her face was covered by the fox mask.

“Speaking of that, I’ve been wanting to show you something,” he said. And after looking around, the wickedest grin appeared on his face. “And I think I know where I can do it without attracting too much attention.”

She turned her head in the direction his eye pointed toward, and saw a large booth across the street. It was a mass of pink neon lights, heart-shaped cutouts and a big red sign that said “Tunnel of Love”.

_No way._

 

 

* * *

 

 

It was possibly the most ridiculous place she had ever entered. The rubber duck Roronoa had apparently kept in his pocket gave them access to this dark tunnel with dim heart-shaped lamps hanging from the walls and cheesy melodies playing from hidden loudspeakers. On the sides of the tunnel were small alcoves with sofas and cushions, presumably to give more privacy to the “lovers”. It was in one of them that Roronoa entered nonchalantly.

Tashigi hesitated. “That’s the last place a Marine would step in with a pirate, you know?”

_Or that’s what my instinct should be telling me._

Roronoa didn’t even stop but only looked at her from over his shoulder. “You’re a pirate too today, remember?” _Always that damned smirk._ “Besides, didn’t you say you owe me one? I really need your help with something.”

In the end, curiosity got the better of her. She realized she was also completely fine with he idea of going off in a corner with the infamous Pirate Hunter. If anything, her accelerated heartbeat wasn’t certainly due to fear. And she didn’t know what to make of that.

She took a seat next to him on an old couch, her mask still covering her face, while he propped Shusui and Sandai Kitetsu against it and laid Wado Ichimonji on his lap.

“There’s something that’s been bothering me about Wado” he said.

_His favorite sword_ , he’d called it. She observed the pure-white hilt, the circular hand-guard, the sheath painted white with no marks or signs of damage despite the long use. It was as beautiful as it had been when she’d first laid eyes on it in Loguetown.

Then he unsheathed it, holding the blade in front of him, and closed his unscarred eye. A few seconds passed in silence.

“I can’t feel it,” he blurted.

“What?”

He opened his eye. “Shusui, Kitetsu. I can _feel_ their presence, their bloodlust, at all times. I’ve felt it ever since I got them. But Wado– Wado is different. I can’t sense anything coming from it.”

He sounded worried. She thought it must be something that had been bothering him for a long time.

“It’s a perfect sword,” he said, sheathing Wado again and placing a hand on it. “It does everything I want it to do, but I don’t sense its will. I could only think of one reason. Those two,” he continued glancing at the other two swords, “they acknowledged me when they came in my possession. They agreed to change master. You were there– with Kitetsu. But Wado– Wado was given to me when I was a child, because I requested it out of a whim.”

His lips curved in a bitter smile. “What if it has never accepted me as its true master? What if I’m not worthy of it?”

“Of course you’re worthy of it!” Tashigi blurted out, instinctively putting her hand over his.

The look he gave her, raising his eye to meet hers, was of utter surprise. Then he stared at her for a long moment, his expression becoming unreadable, while Tashigi started to register the weight of what she had said and the fact that their hands were now almost intertwined. _Did they do that on their own?_ But she had no time to think because with his free hand, Roronoa was now slowly lifting her mask until it rested on her head.

“I never thought I’d hear that coming from you,” he told her.

Tashigi felt as if her cheeks had been set on fire. Their faces were only a few inches apart now, with no mask separating them anymore.

“I just meant– I think this sword has always accepted you,” she said, almost whispering. She wanted him to _know_. “You can’t feel it just like you can’t feel your own aura. Because it’s part of you, and has always been. The sword’s will and yours are the same. I can’t feel Shigure either, but I know we are one.”

Roronoa was listening to her intently. _Is my opinion so important to him? Has he really been wanting to ask me this for a long time?_ She then watched his expression soften, as if in relief.

“ _I_ can feel it,” Tashigi continued. “Wado Ichimonji.”

She closed her eyes and tried to feel the sword’s aura, just like Roronoa had done a few moments before. To her, Wado Ichimonji felt like an extension of him. She could feel his strength in it, his determination, his struggle– but also a kind of grace, of elegance, that she thought didn’t come directly from him but was something passed down from the previous owner.

And pain. She realized the sword, just like him, carried a deep sorrow within it. They were grieving for someone they’d lost a long time ago, whose passing they had accepted but still remembered with sadness. She wondered who that was. It made her sad.

But she didn’t get to ask him that, because as soon as she came back from that state of semi-trance, Roronoa was wiping away the tears on her face with his knuckles – _when did those tears start falling?_ – and the gentleness of his touch made her hold her breath. Her heart was beating faster than ever.

“Thank you,” he said, softly.

_Could it be, that he felt something too?_

Then his hand moved to the back of her neck, gently touching her hair, their faces even closer now, while he searched her eyes looking for a sign– as if asking for permission.

And the only word she could think of in that moment was _yes_. The only place she wanted to be was right there with him and their swords.

Then he kissed her, and his lips were unexpectedly soft, only slightly chapped, and the contact sent a wave of heat throughout her entire body. But she could feel in his hesitation that the doubts that had clouded his mind had not vanished completely, and there was an eagerness from him to find reassurance from her body other than from her words.

Tashigi responded to the kiss, as if it was the only way to tell him that everything was fine, that she should never had doubted his ownership of his swords, because if there was anyone in the world worthy of taking them to the top, it was him. _It had always been him._

He was a pirate. She was a Marine captain. Those lines had been blurred before, but now– now, out of her uniform and in that pirate getup, it seemed to her that there were no lines at all, as Roronoa caressed her face with a thumb and kissed the corners of her mouth.

The return to reality could wait just a bit longer.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right after I published the first chapter, the new teaser for Stampede came out! Tashigi looks so cute, and I love the art style they're using for the film! Fingers crossed that she will have a few interactions with Zoro.
> 
> If you read until here, THANK YOU. This means a lot to me. Comments are welcome, and I'm looking forward to writing about these two again.
> 
> P.S. There's a bonus chapter 3 that will be up soon.


	3. Bonus

When Zoro rejoins them for the Treasure Race later that afternoon – or, better, when they find him wandering aimlessly amid the booths and stalls – Usopp watches Nami sneak up to him suspiciously.

“Hey, Zoro, I think you have some ruby red on your mouth,” he overhears her saying.

Usopp observes the swordsman’s face turn redder and redder, while he frantically tries to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.

He sees the wickedest grin appear on Nami’s face, before she adds “Oh. But that’s impossible, because I only buy transfer-proof lipsticks. It must have been a trick of the light. ”

And she moves away from a confused Zoro before he can register her words.

Usopp sighs, takes a 1000-Berry banknote out of his pocket and hands it to Nami.

She winks in response. “Told ya.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Oi, Tashigi! Why the hell weren’t you answering my calls?!”

Smoker has finally found his subordinate after trying to contact her for hours. He’s discovered an important piece of information on Douglas Bullet and they have to revise their plan immediately before the game starts.

He notices the change in her appearance from when he’s left her that morning, but decides not to inquire further. _As long as she didn’t blow her cover._

Tashigi takes out her Den Den Mushi and looks at it for a moment, then, absent-mindedly and in a completely serious tone says, “Oh! There must be no reception in the Tunnel of Love.”

It takes her a few seconds to register what she said, and while her eyes widen and her face turns redder than her sweater, Smoker just sighs and shakes his head.

“I don’t even want to ask.”

 

 


End file.
